THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



259 



that some honey is equal to sugar 

 for wintering purposes ; and I sin- 

 cerely wish that friend F. could 

 give us an article upon the subject 

 of getting good honey for winter- 

 ing our bees, and also tell us why 

 he thinks that colonies worked 

 upon the top-story plan do not 

 winter so well ; yes, and point out 

 "the very obvious reasons" why 

 neighbor Doane's bees did not 

 winter so well as mine. 



Yes, friend P., it is an experi- 

 enced apiarist who can make it 

 pay to spread the brood, if anyone 

 can. It is also true, that the time 

 for doing this work comes before 

 the rush of the honey harvest ; and 

 I do not doubt that, combined with 

 spring protection, many apiarists 

 might find it profitable ; but I feel 

 satisfied that the same results, or 

 nearly as good results, may be se- 

 cured with no labor ; and certainly 

 no beekeeper need spread the 

 brood in the spring, simply for a 

 lack of something to do. What I 

 mean b}' accomplishing the same 

 results with no labor is, using hives 

 having a brood-nest of such capac- 

 ity that a queen of ordinary pro- 

 lificness can and will keep the 

 combs filled with brood without 

 "horsewhipping" her by spreading 

 the brood. We can often increase 

 our profits b}^ increasing the num- 

 ber of our colonies rather than by 

 increasing the average products of 

 those colonies we already possess. 

 In other words, "securing the great- 

 est amount of honey with the least 

 expenditure of capital and labor" 

 does not necessarily mean secur- 

 ing large yields per colony. 



I will explain why I consider it 

 more profitable to winter bees upon 

 sugar when raising comb honey. 

 The prices of extracted hone}' and 

 sugar are very nearly the same, 

 or, at least, the}' have been ; hence 

 the profit could not be very great, 

 while the price of comb hone}' is 

 twice as great. I am aware that 



many believe that twice as much 

 extracted as comb honey can be 

 produced, and perhaps this is true 

 in a majority of cases ; but those 

 who are well up in the production 

 of comb honey, and employ the 

 best methods, know that they can 

 secui-e at least three-fourths as 

 much comb as extracted honey. 



I feel now very much as though 

 I had had my "say" upon this sub- 

 ject ; and I should be very glad 

 indeed to let some one else speak. 

 Bogersville, Mich., July 20, 1887. 



"From the American Bee Journal." 



HO W BEES KNO W ONE 

 ANOTHER. 



George f. Robbins. 



When I first began to study bee- 

 books and beekeeping, I was taught 

 that bees recognize one another by 

 the sense of smell. I took it for 

 granted that that was true, for that 

 seemed to be the general assump- 

 tion. After awhile I saw doubts 

 of the theory expressed, and at 

 length decided, from watching the 

 habits of bees, that the view could 

 not be sustained. I have never 

 seen the assumption proven. 



My view is, that bees recognize 

 one another more by actions than 

 by all things else. Two facts in 

 bee-nature are well known, first, 

 their senses are far more delicate 

 than ours. They and their little 

 world are so much less than we and 

 ours, that what to us is so infini- 

 tesimal as to escape notice, to them 

 is a matter of some magnitude. 

 They can perceive what we cannot, 

 and it may be that in some way we 

 would scarcely imagine all their 

 senses aid in mutual recognition. 



Certainly we know that, second, 

 bees know their own home, and that 

 chiefly by sight. They carefully 



